Progress towards safeguarding biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)

Negotiations are ongoing at the United Nations towards an agreement to govern the conservation and sustainable use of the high seas which encompass over half of the world’s oceans. Current governance of these areas beyond national jurisdiction has been likened to a legal equivalent of the Wild West characterised by fragmented and mainly sector-based approaches. The session aims to highlight the key issues that need to be addressed in order to balance the need to protect this vast oceanic wilderness and its marine biodiversity with increasing pressures and threats.

Deep seabed mining

The idea of extracting minerals from the seafloor and seabed is not new. However, recent years have seen a surge in interest in deep sea mining (DSM). While DSM has yet to occur in practice commercial interest in the potential offered by such opportunities has led the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to grant multiple exploration permits and develop environmental regulations governing DSM activities on areas of seabed beyond national jurisdiction.

Legal and technical aspects of defining insular features

A longstanding conundrum in UNCLOS has been how to distinguish between islands capable of generating the full suite of claims to maritime jurisdiction and mere “rocks” which are unable to generate continental shelf and EEZ rights. The ruling of the Arbitration Tribunal in the South China Sea case in 2016 represents the first detailed judicial treatment of the regime of islands and has profound potential implications for maritime claims from insular features, low-tide elevations and artificial islands.

Baselines and defining the limits of maritime jurisdiction

Baselines are fundamental to maritime claims as they provide the ‘starting line’ for the measurement of maritime zones seaward. Traditional conceptions of the stability of baselines are challenged by sea level rise, global climate change and what has been termed the dawn of the ‘Anthroposcene’, leading to potential developments in the applications of UNCLOS.

The application of UNCLOS in high latitudes

The Polar regions are often regarded as largely pristine environments that are under increasing threat. This session examines the application of UNCLOS in Polar regions and covers significant developments such as increasing activities in high latitudes, notably increasing shipping leading to developments regarding communications and charting and other safety of navigation issues such as the implementation of Polar Code.